Dr. Stephanie Louie is a practicing chiropractor with a chiropractic clinic in Victoria, BC. She uses a total body approach when it comes to chiropractic treatment. At Mind Body Spine, chiropractic treatment combines proper spinal alignment through manual adjustments and/or spinal decompression, and targeted exercise and nutrition. This approach helps resolve the root causes – not just the pain symptoms – of your health issue. Most importantly, it is tailored to your personal needs and goals.

The Mind Body Spine Chiropractic Process

The first step to health is starting every new patient visit with a wellness exam using state of the art technology to get to the root of the problem. We pride ourselves on finding the root cause of the problem in order to find the right steps towards correction. This is a unique approach that is extremely empowering for patients, some of whom may have felt helpless to their pain in the past.

Here are the phases of Chiropractic care that clients typically experience:

Phase 1: Relief CarePain is a common reason for patients to seek out chiropractic care. A kink in the neck, a chronic low backache, or tingling in the arms or legs can be the result of an accident or slow onset repetitive stress injury. In this situation, the immediate goal is to help you reduce pain and start feeling better as quickly as possible. Priority is put on reducing pain symptoms and improving function.

Phase 2: Corrective & Wellness CareThe corrective phase is all about rehabilitating and stabilizing your underlying conditions so you can return to normal activity. Many patients are proactive and seek out wellness care to maintain a healthy spine, much like seeing a dentist before tooth decay occurs. Your muscles and other tissues are allowed to heal more completely, which helps prevent further injury or pain. Your therapy will focus on improving function, posture, strength, and balance. The goal is to fix the problem permanently so it doesn’t return. Once your body has fully healed, routine chiropractor visits can help ensure that you avoid many of the aches and pains that so many people suffer through, and your joints will last longer and you will be able to engage in more of the activities you love.

Total Body Chiropractic

While Chiropractic is often associated with back or spinal care, Victoria chiropractor Dr. Stephanie Louie encourages people to think of it as total body care or complete chiropractic, hence the term total body chiropractic.

Often chiropractic adjustments, intended to realign the spine, can improve other issues in one’s health. Correcting the spine’s alignment can release pressure on one’s nerves, and allow messages to flow through the body unobstructed. The spine is key to the central nervous system, sending messages from the brain, essentially the control centre, to the rest of the body, including nerves and organs.

“The central nervous system controls every aspect of the body,” explains Dr. Louie. “For example, when I treat a misaligned neck, it’s not unusual for patients to tell me they experience improved mental clarity.” It’s also not uncommon for people to have relief of constipation or congestion after clearing out these information roadblocks.

Further, “chiropractors are seeing a movement toward people seeking out natural health care measures instead of drugs or surgery,” Dr. Louie says. “Those experiencing lower back pain are now picking up the phone to call a chiropractor and not simply reaching for a bottle of pain relievers.”

Chiropractors are relying more and more on technology. At her Victoria BC chiropractic practice, Dr. Louie starts every new patient visit with a wellness exam, using state-of-the-art technology to get to the root of the problem. By determining where the problem exists, she can prescribe a full-body treatment regimen that includes exercise, nutrition, stretching or yoga, in addition to receiving adjustments. “It’s about one’s expectations of daily living and the types of activities they want to be up for doing, such as traveling, playing with grandchildren, participating in sports, and so on. If you don’t actually deal with the problem now, it may become worse and further limit one’s mobility.”

“By taking this total body perspective and educating my patients, they can then be active in their own therapy and healing,” Dr. Louie says.

Exactly What is a Chiropractor & What Does a Chiropractor Do?

As the chiropractic industry grows, there are more and more people searching for “chiropractor meaning” or “chiropractor definition”, asking Google to give them a better understanding of this comparatively new arm of the health industry.

Ok, so let’s start with the basics:

What is a Chiropractor?

Chiropractors are trained doctors who are specialized to treat the musculoskeletal system and the nervous system and the relationship between the two. The ultimate goal being to improve function in all your body systems!

What Does a Chiropractor Do?

Chiropractors are trained to restore normal physiological function of the human body by treating interference of the nerves controlling the body’s systems and physiological functions, which is done through delivering an adjustment to the patient.

Chiropractors specialize in understanding and treating components of the spine, including the bone structure, muscles and nerves. It is important to keep in mind that the spine is key to the central nervous system, sending messages from the brain, essentially the control center, to every single organ, tissue and cell in the body. Whenever something pinches on a nerve, such as a misalignment in the spine, you may feel or have problems with pain, aching, numbness, lethargy, menstruation, allergies, conception, digestion or other issues.

5 Chiropractic Myths

Top Five Myths About Chiropractors

There are a slew of untruths or myths about the chiropractic industry – so much so that we thought it pertinent to include the top 5 of them here.

Myth #1 – Chiropractic is Not Safe.

We hear this myth in the form of “is chiropractic safe?” or “are chiropractors safe?” These are legitimate questions that you should certainly be asking of any new form of treatment you’re thinking of undertaking. Well, rejoice in knowing that chiropractic is an absolutely safe and effective form of healthcare. In fact, recent literature states that seeing a chiropractor for an adjustment is no more dangerous than seeing your family doctor! (1) Another study has shown that anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or Advil cause 100-200 deaths per million cases when used to treat neck pain – something we don’t see in the chiropractic industry. (2) And that’s something to think about!

Myth #2 – Chiropractors Are Not Doctors

We hear this in the form of questions such as: are chiropractors doctors? Are chiropractors legitimate?
Chiropractors are doctors. Interestingly, chiropractic and medical school curricula are almost identical, with the exception that chiropractic students actually have more classroom education than their medical school colleagues.

Myth #3 – Chiropractors Only Treat Back Pain

This is simply not true – chiropractors treat the entire body. Some common conditions that chiropractors treat are: neck pain, headaches, migraines, carpal tunnel syndrome, sinus problems, sciatica, rib pain, colic, bowel and bladder complaints, just to name a few.

Myth #4 – Once You See a Chiropractor You Have to Keep Going

No, not really. Many patients see a chiropractor for relief of symptoms. There is, however, a growing percent of the population that seek care for wellness. In order to live a proactive lifestyle, prevention is key and regular checkups are not uncommon in the profession depending on the patient’s ultimate goals. This may be comparable to going to the dentist for routine dental cleanings or maintaining an exercise regime in order to stay fit and healthy.

Myth #5 – Chiropractors Only Treat Adults

Many problems adults have, may actually have started in childhood. In fact, the birthing process is quite a traumatic event for a baby, and many problems may arise during this time as well! We know how important it is to get regular checkups for our children’s teeth and eyes but many parents overlook getting a checkup of their family’s spine. Chiropractic care is safe for babies and children and this is a stage in their young lives where their musculoskeletal and nervous systems are under a tremendous amount of stress due to rapid growth. Getting your child adjusted by a chiropractor may help improve ailments such as: colic, growing pains, and other injuries.

Mind Body Spine – Who We Treat

No matter what age you are, it is important to make sure everything in the body is running at its true potential. Therefore, it is good practice to get your back and neck checked and to make sure the nervous system is running at full force. The nervous system is housed within the bones of your spine and it is essential that there is no pressure on this organ in order for the brain-body connection to be at 100% or as close to that as possible.

As a family chiropractic center, we treat patients of all ages, from infants, who may need chiropractic adjustments after a difficult birth, to help improve symptoms such as colic and gassiness, or for overall wellness; to children suffering from lower back pain from carrying heavy backpacks to school. We also treat many young and middle-aged adults who feel discomfort as well as seniors, for whom years of bad habits, like poor posture, may be resulting in pain or limited mobility.

Before the baby gets born, Dr.Louie provides prenatal chiropractic care to help pregnant mothers carry their babies with less discomfort. At this stage, chiropractic can not only help make the pregnancy easier but it can also help with labour and delivery. To this end, a pelvic adjustment is the most common type of alignment a pregnancy chiropractor might perform.

After the birth, or postnatal, a chiropractor can help with any pain or discomfort that the woman might be feeling.

There are many reasons why parents of an infant may bring them in to get checked such as: problems with breastfeeding, inconsolable crying or colic, digestive problems or sleep difficulties. The birthing process is traumatic for many babies, so their mothers bring them in for adjustments. Adjustments to the middle back region, where nerves go to the digestive organs, can help babies be less gassy.

Pediatric Chiropractor (for Children)

At Mind Body Spine, we see children of all ages with a multitude of symptoms. The effects of chiropractic on children can often have a profound effect because, as pediatric chiropractors, we’re able to treat the cause of many problems and not just the symptoms. The earlier you bring your child into see a chiropractor, the better the chance to see a resolution of symptoms.

Chiropractor for Seniors

Treating seniors can be very different than treating other types of populations. We have to be very careful about bone density and other issues that may cause problems if treated improperly. This is why we have state of the are diagnostic equipment and adjusting equipment in order to give patients the best and safest form of care in order to maximize results.

Seniors receiving chiropractic treatments report better overall health, fewer symptomatic chronic conditions, less sick days in hospitals and nursing homes and more mobility than their peers who do not receive chiropractic care, according to a 3-year study by the RAND Corporation. Chiropractic care is one of the most effective and safest forms of health care and can help immensely with pain relief. It has also been shown to help with improving mobility and range of motion and can even help increase balance and coordination. Many of my patients report that they are able to walk, garden, and sleep better and even have more energy and feel younger. Try it out and see for yourself!

Multi-Generational Families Seeking Chiropractic Care

As a general trend, people are becoming more informed about their health and the health of their loved ones. Victoria, BC chiropractor Dr. Stephanie Louie explains how her clinic is seeing more multi-generational families seeking chiropractic care. “Although many of our patients seek our care for preventative and proactive purposes, there are a portion of our patient’s that start treatment due to an injury, pain or symptoms. Once they see the benefits and results after a period of time, they often ask to bring in their family members. It is not unusual to have a range of demographics in the office at one time from babies to seniors. The youngest patient that we have seen in the clinic is a two-day-old baby and the oldest is in their 90’s.”

5 Questions to Ask your Chiropractor

Communication is key when meeting with a chiropractor for the first time. That is why we have come up with 5 hard questions to ask during your first visit.

How much training and experience do you have?

Dr. Louie: I have three degrees – a BSc. in Kinesiology, a BSc. in Human Biology, and a Doctor of Chiropractic. Most people are surprised to learn that on average, Chiropractic College involves 372 more hours of training than Medical School to become a Medical Doctor. Chiropractic students also have more hours of training in anatomy, physiology, diagnosis, and orthopedics (the musculoskeletal system). Additionally, I hold various certifications in specific chiropractic techniques. And finally, I travel around North America to learn cutting-edge techniques from the top doctors in the world to help my patients to get better faster.

Do you use your hands or instruments for chiropractic manipulation?

Dr. Louie: Every ailment, just like every patient is different and often requires a unique approach. I do some manual therapy with my hands, and others with instruments. Sometimes it’s most effective to do a combination of both.

Do you perform deeper joint-popping adjustments or low-force adjustments?

Dr. Louie: I do what is required for helping the patient, but it also depends on the patient’s level of comfort with the noise of a joint-popping adjustment. Not everyone likes that sound. It’s important that there be an open line of communication between the patient and doctor, and that the patient tell me what their comfort level is. I employ a variety of techniques, including instrument-led adjustments with little or no force that result in physical changes that improve a patient’s function and wellbeing.

Do you prescribe exercises as part of treatment plans?

Dr. Louie: I do because patients who are active in their own healing tend to get much better results. Also, you need to be doing the right exercises to enhance the biomechanical chiropractic adjustments.

How can improved nutrition enhance chiropractic care?

Dr. Louie: I recommend that my patients treat their bodies as the finest machine they’ll ever own, like it’s a high-end European sports car. Like the sports car, what you eat dictates how you function. For example, sugars and starches can cause headaches, aches and pains, and mental fogginess. Taking sugars and processed foods out of one’s diet can make them feel better. Seeing a chiropractor can sometimes be the first step toward getting healthier, so I am often talking to patients about diet and exercise.

Whether your priority is relief from pain, rehabilitation from a sports injury, or an occasional tune-up treatment, give chiro a try. At her chiropractic clinic in Victoria, BC, chiropractor Dr. Stephanie Louie has made it her mission to help as many people as possible reach their optimal health. Contact us today to book an appointment!